David Colacci Knihy

The murder of two of the clam fishermen of the island of Pellestrina, south of the Lido on the Venetian lagoon draws Commissario Brunetti into the close-knit community of the island, bound together by a code of loyalty and a suspicion of outsiders worthy of the Mafia. When the Questore's secretary Signorina Elettra volunteers to visit the island, where she has relatives, Brunetti finds himself torn between his duty to solve the murders, concerns for Elettra's safety, and his not entirely straightforward feelings for her

For Commissario Guido Brunetti it began with an early morning phone call. A sudden act of vandalism had just been committed in the chill Venetian dawn, a rock thrown in anger through the window of a building. But soon Brunetti finds that the perpetrator is no petty criminal. For the culprit waiting to be apprehended at the scene of the crime is none other than Paola Brunetti, his wife.

Commissario Brunetti and his assistant Vianello secure the release of Marco Ribetti, arrested during an environmental protest, only to face the fury of the man’s father-in-law, Giovanni De Cal, a cantankerous glass factory owner who has been heard in the bars of Murano making violent threats against Ribetti. Brunetti’s curiosity is piqued, and he beings to investigate: Is De Cal the type of man to carry out his threats? By all accounts he is constantly angry, bullying suppliers and fuming against environmentalists. Then one morning the body of De Cal’s bookish night watchman is found in front of the blazing furnace. Could the old man have done it? And who is posioning the waters of Venice's lagoon? Fighting against time, Brunetti must find the murderer before he strikes again.